flyer hops . first tastes

[beer gut]

I took a bottle of my spring beer that I brewed using Flyer to the Competition in Shipley on Saturday for people to have a taste. Everyone I mean everyone said the bitterness and flavour was very pleasant. It's only been bottled for 2 and half weeks so there will be more flavour to come as it conditions out but so far I am very impressed with Flyer and I will be brewing other styles of ales to see how it does in darker ales.

[scuppeteer]

Missed the FG on my porter by a mile, must have underpitched it!

Anyway its still 5.6% and damn tasty.

FWH with Pilgrim then English Cascade @ 10mins and 100g Flyer @ 1min. This really is a very versatile hop, it was lovely in a pale and sits so well in such a dark beer I just can't find fault with it.
Hopefully we can persuade the growers to plant more.

[seymour]

I finally got time to brew my Seymour Flyer Best. They smelled great in the bag and in the boil. I can't wait to learn how they taste!

[seymour]

Yep. This is happening.

[dreadskin69]

my IPA is just ok. in fairness it just sorta tastes English... i dont think i will be playing around with this hop again...

[crimsongarlic]

How long has your Flyer IPA been brewed? I brewed a flyer single hop IPA on the 10th March and was pretty disappointed with it until I tried a bottle last week.

It's starting to taste quite nice now and would definitely consider brewing it again. Will probably use up what I have now as a bittering hop though. I have quite a few opened packs of aroma hops to use up.

[dreadskin69]

fair enough, will put two cases away to see what happens

[beer gut]

My Flyer Pale ale is going from strength to strength the flavours are really coming through. Like you said the flavours and aroma of Flyer have a real British edge to them but I don't think that's a bad thing, not everyone is always looking for the big citrus flavour you get from the American hops all the time, so being British is not a bad thing.

[orlando]

I've said this before but my experience with Flyer is a great bittering hop but falls short as a aroma hop, but that could be said about a few other English hops too. I like the clean bitterness it imparts, contrasted to say Target which I find far too harsh if used for anything other than bittering in very small quantities. Any one want some Target?

[beer gut]

Hi I have never used Target before because it does not appeal to me, I know there are some award winning ales where Target has been used but I don't like hops that are only used for bittering purposes. I like to use Dual purpose hops in my brews. I am getting rid of the last of the Dual purpose hop Boadicea, I bought this hop because I was told it's the new improved Challenger hop. But what I found was it has well rounded bitterness but has little to none aroma qualities which is a little disappointing. However I have just used Boadicea in my Rye beer and that came out great but you could never brew a pale ale using Boadicea as a single hop brew because the brew would be really lacking on the finish.Do you think the Bittering purpose only hops will come to end? Due to all the high Quality Dual purpose hops on the market?

[scuppeteer]

I don't think you will ever lose the high alpha (bittering) hops as they process very well when isomerised into oil extract, which the big boys use cos it is easier to store so there is a market for them. I find Target a lovely hop although I do agree the bitterness can be a little harsh. Try FWH with them and you will find it much smoother, it does have a great aroma though IMO.

As I've said before I can't stand Sovereign and the beers I've had with Boadicea aren't up to much. But as always it's down to personal taste and I would never discount using a hop where its not supposed to be used because of the perceived bittering/aroma qualities. Apollo is a prime example, a massive 19% AA but chucked in at the last minute and its damn tasty, I don't think I would ever consider using this one for bittering.

Now my porter with Flyer late hopped is lovely and just keeps getting better, not a lot of aroma agreed, but then there shouldn't be with a porter anyway.

[alfie09]

I've said this before but my experience with Flyer is a great bittering hop but falls short as a aroma hop, but that could be said about a few other English hops too. I like the clean bitterness it imparts, contrasted to say Target which I find far too harsh if used for anything other than bittering in very small quantities. Any one want some Target?

yes i wouldn't mind some target love them me

[beer gut]

Hi sucpeteer I 100% agree when it comes to hops beauty is in the eye of the brewer. You said you don't like Sovereign yet I rather like the grassy floral aroma you get and I have won a few classes in competitions where I have used Sovereign for the finish. Yet I can't stand WGV hop I think it's horrid, one guy said he couldn't stand Crystal hop to sweet and sickly, I have had enormous success using Crystal in my brews, I have even had people say at competitions say wow what fab aroma what hop did you use? I said Crystal and the reply is I never thought of using that hop. The only thing with Crystal is the hop is so delicate its criminal to use for bittering it's best used for FWH or late in the boil and dry hopping. I have my eye on the new English hop Beata which I will use in a I.P.A. Anybody used this hop?

[seymour]

...I have my eye on the new English hop Beata which I will use in a I.P.A. Anybody used this hop?

Good question (and I know I hijack threads all the time, so this is highly hypocritical) but that might be worth asking in a whole new thread topic. The discussion is moving pretty far from Flyer hops...

[scuppeteer]

Not used Beata yet, but it is in the box along with Archer, CF115, Minstrel, Duchess... shit I've lost count!